By
Shelby G. Floyd
Good morning church. It is good to be here, and we just had a great song service. It is very good that we can share the word of God each other. I am very thankful that God has been so good to me and that I can still do some work in his kingdom.
Today, the subject that I am going to speak on is “laughter.” I had been preaching for 45 years before I ever spoke on the subject of laughter. And when I started doing research, I was amazed at how much the Bible has to say about laughter. When we started this congregation, we decided that we wanted a congregation where people are happy, where they have a smile on their face, and where they can enjoy each other’s company. I am sure all of us realize that we have been around some congregations where the people do not seem to be very happy. Many of these people are very grumpy and sour. And that dampens the spirit of anybody when you are around people like that. And those sour and grumpy people seem to attract sour and grumpy people to them. And that is not a good thing. Whereas people who are joyful like to be with people of like mind. And now I have been preaching 61 years and speak to you again on the subject of laughter.
How many of you like to laugh?(Almost everybody in the audience raised their hand). I know you do! If you do not believe that, just stay around here 15 minutes after we dismiss and you will see how much people enjoy each other’s company, they are in a joyful spirit and many people have smiles on their faces while laughing.
I heard about a woman that was married to four different men. When she was 20, she married a banker. He had a lot of money so they could do about anything they wanted to do. And he died. When she was 40, she married a circus director. And that was a big change in in her life, for they would travel all over the country with the circus. And so she learned to enjoy circus life. But then her circus husband also died. And when she was 60 she married a preacher. And the preacher taught her the plan of salvation and she obeyed the gospel, and became a Christian. She was so glad that she had married a man of God who had taught her how to live a better life. And then he died. And when she was 80, she married a funeral director. The funeral director told her how to be kind to everybody, especially when they would lose someone they really loved. She learned how to have that kind of a spirit. And then he died. Someone then asked her why she had married four different men with such different backgrounds. And she said that it was very simple: “One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go!” (The whole congregation had a big laugh!). I do not know about you but that is really funny and will make you laugh. I had a lot of fun with that story. I do not usually tell very many jokes in the pulpit, but that is a classic. Continue reading “LAUGHTER”